Evaluation of aerosol indirect radiative forcing in MIRAGE

Abstract

We evaluate aerosol indirect radiative forcing simulated by the Model for Integrated Research on Atmospheric Global Exchange (MIRAGE). Although explicit measurements of aerosol indirect radiative forcing do not exist, measurements of many of the links between aerosols and indirect radiative forcing are available and can be used for evaluation. These links include the cloud condensation nuclei concentration, the ratio of droplet number to aerosol number, the droplet number concentration, the column droplet number, the column cloud water, the droplet effective radius, the cloud optical depth, the correlation between cloud albedo and droplet effective radius, and the cloud radiative forcing. The CCN concentration simulated by MIRAGE agrees with measurements for supersaturations larger than 0.1% but not for smaller supersaturations. Simulated droplet number concentrations are too low in most but not all locations with available measurements, even when normalized by aerosol number. MIRAGE correctly simulates the higher droplet numbers and smaller droplet sizes over continents and in the Northern Hemisphere. Biases in column cloud water, cloud optical depth, and shortwave cloud radiative forcing are evident in the Intertropical Convergence Zone and in the subtropical oceans. MIRAGE correctly simulates a negative correlation between cloud albedo and droplet size over remote oceans for cloud optical depths greater than 15 and a positive correlation for cloud optical depths less than 15 but fails to simulate a negative correlation over land. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.